History Webcomic / NoNeedForBushido

* AuthorityEqualsAsskicking:
** Masuhiro, daimyo of the Senshin clan gets ambushed by an entire ninja clan. He fights back without flinching, reasoning out they intend to capture him. He gets caught from being knocked out by a drug applied to a blade that gave him a shallow cut, but not before announcing his resolve to defeat them all and find out who hired them. He escapes imprisonment from these ninjas repeatedly (and then he gets captured again almost as many times by coming across their {{Action Girl}}s and getting DistractedByTheSexy, but that's neither here nor there).
** Hirotomo Wataro turns out to be a great warrior and swordsman himself, as a flashback to his final confrontation with Genchu (who was widely considered [[WorldGreatestWarrior the great swordsman and warrior in Japan at the time]]) shows him fighting nearly evenly with Genchu, something nobody else had been able to do, and when Genchu has Hirotomo beaten and at his mercy, a momentary distraction and a bit of CombatPragmatism was all Hirotomo needed to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat.

** Ina's father is constantly distracted by BoobsOfSteel and captured with knock-out drugs. Lampshaded in a [[http://nn4b.com/?webcomic1=347 flashback]].

* {{Bishounen}}: In the later chapters, Ken and Yori get this treatment, thanks to the aforementioned Art Evolution. [[LongHairedPrettyBoy Yori's hair]] probably doesn't help him.

* ActionGirl: Ina, although it takes her a while to level up.

* AuthorityEqualsAsskicking: Masuhiro, daimyo of the Senshin clan gets ambushed by an entire ninja clan. He fights back without flinching, reasoning out they intend to capture him. He gets caught from being knocked out by a drug applied to a blade that gave him a shallow cut, but not before announcing his resolve to defeat them all and find out who hired them. He escapes imprisonment from these ninjas repeatedly (and then he gets captured again almost as many times by coming across their {{Action Girl}}s and getting DistractedByTheSexy, but that's neither here nor there).
** Hirotomo Wataro turns out to not be half-bad himself - while he just had guards take care of it the first time when Genchu turns against him, he can defend himself when it calls for it [[spoiler:and does pretty decently considering his opponent is [[WorldsGreatestWarrior Genchu]] returning to kill him. When the {{Dual Wield}}ing Genchu cuts his sword in half, Hirotomo uses his own left hand to stop the other sword he has no chance of blocking. Hirotomo loses from there, but Yori appears and surprises Genchu by yelling out his confusion at what's going on, giving Hirotomo the opportunity to win [[CombatPragmatist by unhesitatingly picking up his broken sword blade and stabbing Genchu in the arm with it]]]].

* {{BFS}}: Ken's sword is ''12 feet long''.
** The [[spoiler:Red Dragon Zanbatou]] he gains in 599 is somewhat shorter, but still bigger than he is.

* BrickJoke:
** [[http://nn4b.com/?webcomic1=124 "Ninja lifts]] [[http://nn4b.com/?webcomic1=313 Mount]] [[http://nn4b.com/?webcomic1=767 Fuji"]]

* CaptainErsatz:
** Ken and Yori respectively to Sanosuke and Kenshin of ''Manga/RurouniKenshin''.
** Vaguely in appearance, but much less so in personality- Kenshin's ObfuscatingStupidity while Yori's CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass. Sano's a JerkWithAHeartOfGold while Ken's a JerkWithAHeartOfJerk. [[ThouShaltNotKill Unlike Kenshin]], Yori's also got no problem with killing the bad guys.
* CatchPhrase:
** Yori's "Holy Shnikies!" When he saw Ken's zanbatou, it was upgraded to "Holy flipping shnikies of demonic destruction!"

** The trick blade. [[spoiler:Subverted twice. It's only a trick blade when it comes to stabbing; for slashing attacks it's entirely functional. And when slamming it hard into somebody's chest...it won't impale them, but it'll still be something akin to getting slugged with brass knuckles]].
** [[spoiler: Played straight in the dispatching of Uso]].

* ColorWash: Pastel colors and green tint indicate that you see things through the poisoned Yori's eyes, and you should not believe anything you see.
* CombatPragmatist: Murasaki [[http://nn4b.com/?webcomic1=427 fights dirty]].
** Hiromoto Wataro would have been killed by Genchu [[spoiler:if Yori didn't pop up and distract Genchu. Hirotomo wasted absolutely no time taking advantage of the opening by stab Genchu in the arm with the blade of a broken sword.]]

* {{Determinator}}: Rule #1 of Ken's Combat Rules: Don't stop not dying.

** There's also Ryoku, one of the four Demons of Sorrow, who is also blind. He appears to have Comicbook/{{Daredevil}}-esque echolocation.

* HandicappedBadass: Cho is an extremely skilled martial artist, able to defeat (most) of his adversaries without breaking a sweat. Badass enough on its own; ''more'' badass when you consider his handicap.
--> '''Ken:''' Wait a sec, so you're, like, as blind as a...uh...blind...guy.\\

** Ryoku is also blind, and is an exception swordsman.

* HostageSituation: A few here and there, with Ina being taken to get Yori into a duel in one case.
** ShootTheHostage: Nataku's solution should the problem arise for him. [[http://nn4b.com/?webcomic1=627 Observe here]].

* IResembleThatRemark:
** Ken [[http://nn4b.com/?webcomic1=312 punching Fumio]] for saying he wasn't "agreeable".
** Or ''[[http://nn4b.com/?webcomic1=383 decking him across the town]]'' for calling him a "homicidal maniac".

* JidaiGeki: A story of love, war, and rival clans set in Feudal Japan... well, a version of Feudal Japan with a ''lot'' of AnachronismStew.

* LongLostRelative: Yumiko to Ken; she is (as far as she knows) the only other surviving member of the Daisuke Clan.

** The title itself is a very well-hidden shoutout to ''Anime/TenchiMuyo'', the title of which is often translated as "No Need for Tenchi".

* {{Stripperiffic}}: ''All'' the female ninjas. [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] in that they dress like that to distract their enemies. This is why Suzuka beats the otherwise ultra-competent Masuhiro every time.
** Possibly lampshaded in 754 where Nataku [[ThrowingYourSwordAlwaysWorks throws his sword]] [[spoiler:at Yumiko (who, ironically enough, is the ''least'' stripperiffic of the ninjas),]] which goes straight into [[ChainmailBikini her bare midriff]].

** While it's pure RuleOfFunny and a one time gag, what else could you call "Ninja lifts Mt. Fuji"?

* TokenEvilTeammate: Ken is this for the good guys. He's not straight up evil, but being a bully, a jerkass, and consistently intimidating merchants and robbing random people, not to mention [[BloodKnight what]] [[MookHorrorShow happens]] [[RoaringRampageOfRevenge when he gets to fight the Wataro soldiers]] puts him ''very'' low on the scale of anti heroes.

** Tadashi is a NobleTopEnforcer who, like many fictional samurai, is caught between his loyalty to lord and clan and disapproving of the orders of his lord and the direction of his clan. Like many samurai, he resolves this by usually maintaining a front of MyMasterRightOrWrong, but where he can, making small choices for the greater good of his lord/clan, such as [[spoiler:secretly sparing Genchu.]]

* TookALevelInBadass: Yori does, right around the time the ArtEvolution really kicks in. Turns out he was always skilled, but RuleOfFunny-induced bad luck concealed it before.

* TragicVillain: Flashbacks have shown [[spoiler:that none other than Hirotomo is one. As a young man he was an idealist who made peace between his clan and their longtime rivals, but something (implied to be the loss of his wife and framing the rival clan for her death) went horribly wrong and changed him into the cynical, ruthless, and paranoid man he is today.]]

* VicariouslyAmbitious: Ryoku states that the reason he stopped being Eijiro's bodyguard, joined the Demons of Sorrow, and is chomping at the bit to kill Yori is because he wants to personally ensure that Eijiro will be guaranteed to be the heir to the clan. [[spoiler:Which turns out to be impossible since Hirotomo flasely believes that Eijiro isn't actually his son.]]

* TheChessmaster: Yukizane, Ina's seemingly useless uncle. He's an excellent player of both the in-universe equivalent of chess and surprisingly shrewd at political maneuvering.

* AwfulTruth: [[spoiler:Yori's father knew that Nataku arranged for the his wife's death for years now, but the damage was done. He couldn't let the world know they destroyed the Daisuke clan on false pretenses, so he maintained the lie in the hopes that Yori would become his heir and wipe away the clan's sins.]]

** Tao [[StarWars binds the galaxy together]].[[note]]An obvious shout out to make, since Creator/GeorgeLucas drew heavily from Taoism in creating the Force for ''Star Wars''.[[/note]]

** Tao [[StarWars binds the galaxy together]].[[note]]An obvious shout out to make, since Creator/GeorgeLucas drew heavily from Taoism in creating TheForce for ''Star Wars''.[[/note]]

* FiveManBand: The main players in the Wataro clan.
** TheBigBad: Hirotomo Wataro, head of the clan, and possibly the most feared and despised warlord in Japan.
** TheDragon: Tadashi, Hirotomo's NobleTopEnforcer, MasterSwordsman, and head of the secret assassin group The Demons of Sorrow.
** TheEvilGenius: General Atsumori, TheStrategist of the Wataro Clan's military, and apparently the only general in the clan who thinks in terms of solid strategy, tactics, and the long term benefit of the clan. [[spoiler:Unfortunately, he underestimated the ruthlessness of Nataku and turned his back on his fellow general at the worst possible moment...]]
** TheBrute: General Nataku, a BloodKnight FourStarBadass with SuperStrength whose combat philosophy amounts to AttackAttackAttack
** TheDarkChick Eijiro Wataro, Hirotomo's younger son and a pint-sized SmugSnake and somewhat NaiveNewcomer who contrasts the experience and competence of the other four members.

--> It's highly probably a lot of impaired vision fighters pop out an eye just to gain the intimidation factor, why not!

** Cho is a part of prophecy about a blind Taoist, a Hindu and a cleric entering a bar and ending the world. And he keeps trying to walk into bars. [[spoiler: As of page 490, the Hindu and the cleric appeared in the comic]].

* TheAlcoholic: Ken, very much so. At one point, while the other characters are fighting a major battle, Ken, after kicking metric tons of mook ass, runs out of sake. Solution? He goes and slaughters an enemy camp, and takes all of their sake. Then, when that runs out, he repeats the process. Multiple times. Until he finally passes out. And upon waking up back in camp, he wants more.

* AnguishedDeclarationOfLove: [[spoiler:[[http://nn4b.com/comic/782 Genchu tells Hirotomo he loved him]]...as the latter lays dying from a gunshot from his "son" who he did not father and believed came from Genchu cuckolding him (he didn't) because Hirotomo ran to attack Genchu while he was unarmed. Yes, ''very'' anguished.]]

** Hirotomo Wataro turns out to not be half-bad himself - while he just had guards take care of it the first time when Genchu turns against him, he can defend himself when it calls for it [[spoiler:and does pretty decently considering his opponent is Genchu returning to kill him. When the {{Dual Wield}}ing Genchu cuts his sword in half, Hirotomo uses his own left hand to stop the other sword he has no chance of blocking. Hirotomo loses from there, but Yori appears and surprises Genchu by yelling out his confusion at what's going on, giving Hirotomo the opportunity to win [[CombatPragmatist by unhesitatingly picking up his cut sword blade and stabbing Genchu in the arm with it]]]].
* AwfulTruth: [[spoiler:Yori's father knew that Nataku arranged for the his wife's death for years now, but the damage was done. He couldn't let the world know they destroyed the Daisuke clan on false pretenses, so he maintained the lie in the hopes that Yori would become his heir and wipe away the clan's sins since Eijiro isn't his son by blood.]]
* BareHandedBladeBlock: Reconstructed version, Hiromoto stops a sword from killing him by grabbing it with one hand. His hand's bleeding and cut from it, but he's not dead.

* BerserkButton: Do ''not'' call him "[[http://nn4b.com/?webcomic1=447 Nine Finger Nataku]]."

* CloudCuckooLander: Cho, in spades.

* TheChessmaster: Yukizane, Ina's seemingly useless uncle.

** Hiromoto Wataro would have been killed by Genchu [[spoiler:if Yori didn't pop up and surprise Genchu, leaving him open for Hiromoto to stab him in the arm with his blade from his cut-in-half sword.]]

** Cho's this too; you don't really expect the CloudCuckoolander who spouts {{Ice Cream Koan}}s to be a master martial artist who can cause a mini earthquake by putting his foot down.

*** And ''then'', soon after being upset because all of his guns have been lost to him, he resolutely realizes he can just buy a bunch of junk from Japan and sell it back home for a ridiculous markup.

* DrillSergeantNasty: Ken, while TrainingThePeacefulVillagers.

* EveryJapaneseSwordIsAKatana: Averted. Has introduced more than one type of sword; introduces the name of the sword as well at times.

* EyepatchOfPower: lampshaded by WordOfGod in the comments [[http://nn4b.com/?webcomic1=504 here]]:

* FourIsDeath: The Four Demons of Sorrow, Hirotomo Wataro's elite soldiers. [[spoiler:They're more like the Two Demons of Sorrow now, though]].

* TheFriendNobodyLikes: General Tanaka is on the side of the Senshin clan, and his army helps save the villagers and the main protagoists, but Tanaka himself is an obstinate jerk who repeatedly voices the opinion that Ina should StayInTheKitchen, disparages the farmers and Maru despite the work they did to stall the Wataro invasion, and ignores the warning of Genchu and Ricardo about the Wataro army arming themselves with guns. He's a valuable ally, but nobody in the cast actually cares for him.

* GoodOldWays: General Tanaka is sure that guns pose no real danger to his army because of the long time they need to reload, which he's sure will allow his men to get close enough to cut down the riflemen. He overlooked the strategic ways they could be used when there are enough men wielding them to fire in teams, thus compensate for the reload time. Boy did Tanaka come to regret that.

** Ryoku is also blind, and just as badass.

* IaijutsuPractitioner: While Yori and Ryoku participated in a QuickDraw duel at the end of their fight, thus far the apparent master of this art is Tadashi, [[http://nn4b.com/comic/674 who can apparently draw his sword, strike a dozen times, and resheathe it in a single panel]] without the blade ever being visible.

* ImprobableWeaponUser: One ninjette uses fans.
* ImprovisedWeapon: Yori has to do this often. Broken sword, sheath, trick sword... Now that Matrix has given him one of her swords, he's back to being properly armed, but he still uses the trick sword.

* JidaiGeki: Feudal Japan...[[AnachronismStew mostly]].

* TheLostLenore: Flashbacks imply [[spoiler:that Hirotomo's wife was this to him, and it was her death (or possibly murder) that served as his CynicismCatalyst.]]

* MasterOfIllusion: Uso induces illusions through hitting his enemies with a poison creating the affected's worst fears... until the poison gets worse and makes them see a platoon of Usos attacking them.

* {{Ninja}}

* PerfectlyArrangedMarriage: Twisted all over. [[spoiler:Ina was supposed to marry the eldest Wataro son, Yori, but he abandoned his clan due to his father's warlike policies, and his brother took his place. Ina, hearing she was being set up for an arranged marriage, ran away. Yori and Ina met, neither of them aware of who the other was, and fell in love. Unfortunately, by the time anyone realizes all this, the Wataro clan isn't interested in peace--if they ever were]].

* QuirkyMinibossSquad: The Four Demons Of Sorrow

** And all people who find out that he's blind tend to do [[BuffySpeak that wavey-hand thingy]] to test. [[NeverHeardThatOneBefore He doesn't like it when people do that]].

** Ken regularly threatens merchants that whatever they're selling better be the best he's ever had, or he'll kick their ass. He has yet to kick a merchant's ass yet.

* SayMyName: [[http://nn4b.com/comic/271 HIROTOMO!]], as Genchu cuts through his guards to kill the spoken-of.
* {{Seppuku}}: [[spoiler: Tadashi, with Genchu serving as his second.]]

* {{Stripperiffic}}: All female ninjas. [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] in that they dress like that to distract their enemies. This is why Suzuka beats the otherwise ultra-competent Masuhiro every time.
** Possibly lampshaded in 754 where Nataku [[ThrowingYourSwordAlwaysWorks throws his sword]] [[spoiler:at Yumiko]] which goes straight into her bare midriff.

** It's somewhat unclear if it's physical strength or mystical Tao abilities, but Cho and the Wu Tang brothers are able to send people flying with a punch, knock over trees, or create a mini earthquake by stomping a foot.

* TragicVillain: Flashbacks have implied [[spoiler:that none other than Hirotomo is one. As a young man he was an idealist who made peace between his clan and their longtime rivals, but something (implied to be the loss of his wife and framing the rival clan for her death) went horribly wrong and changed him into the cynical, ruthless, and paranoid man he is today.]]
* {{Tsundere}}: [[http://nn4b.com/comic/88 Ina's a]] [[http://nn4b.com/comic/307 bit swingy]].
* TookALevelInBadass: Yori does, right around the time the ArtEvolution really kicks in. Turns out he was always skilled, but RuleOfFunny-induced bad luck concealed it before.
** Ina during the defense of Lord Maru's village. She drew up the battle plans and commanded the defenders, buying time for the Senshin reinforcements to arrive. Then she turned right around and led a (somewhat) successful rescue of her father. [[spoiler:In the end, however, Yukizane really saved the day.]]

** Atsumori is an honorable OnlySaneMan who prefers peace to war and is desperately trying to preserve the honor of the clan. When ordered to go to war he tries to do so in a way to minimize bloodshed on all sides, as opposed to the approach of General Nataku, who it's strongly hinted would go straight into RapePillageAndBurn writ large.

* VicariouslyAmbitious: Ryoku states that the reason he stopped being Eijiro's bodyguard, joined the Demons of Sorrow, and is chomping at the bit to kill Yori is because he wants to personally ensure that Eijiro will be guaranteed to be the heir to the clan. [[spoiler: Which turns out to be impossible since he isn't actually the clan leader's son.]]

* {{Yandere}}: Yori fears Ina is moving this way. Or maybe she's just a fantastic strategist?

* BadassGay: [[spoiler:[[http://nn4b.com/comic/782 Genchu, as it turns out.]] He was once in love with Hirotomo before the whole thing of them trying to kill each other.]]

The comic went on a long hiatus in July 2012, but returned in August 2013 until its official completion on May 2019.

A webcomic set in feudal Japan, the plot starts out with a princess looking to escape an ArrangedMarriage to the son of an infamous warlord. Almost as soon as she runs away from home, she stumbles upon a group of bandits, and is saved (well, ''sort of'' saved) by a kind if ditzy young samurai. Turns out the young man is the same guy that she was supposed to marry, and he too has fled his clan, albeit for slightly different reasons.

Of the above, only Ina can't hold her own in combat, although she's proved herself to be an excellent strategist. Which is a good thing for the group, because they need all the help they can get as they try to prevent a war and survive clashing with a squad of powerful assassins, not to mention the ninja mercenaries, kung fu priests, genocidal warlords, gun toting armies, a prophecy about the end of the world, and worst of all, family baggage and dynastic politics.

[[http://www.nn4b.com The strip can be found here]]. The comic updates every Monday. The comic went on a long hiatus in July 2012, but returned in August 2013. It officially finished in May 2019.

* HelloNurse: Matrix, the mysterious watcher who actually dresses like a [[NaughtyNurseOutfit nurse]] at one point.

[[http://www.nn4b.com The strip can be found here]]. The comic updates every Monday. The comic went on a long hiatus in July 2012, but returned in August 2013.

* TheBet: Details still hazy, but Matrix and Lex appear to have a wager going on Yori's success or failure, respectively, with Matrix not above intervening with the plot to help Yori along.